Page 104 of For Emery

The guys laughed. And though I laughed with them, it hadn’t been easy waiting for the athletic board to reverse their decision or the charges against me to be dropped. Wayne thought it would help in his sentencing if he agreed to drop them. But it didn’t. A first-degree attempted murder charge carried a life sentence. He copped a plea deal that ensured him the possibility of parole. Hopefully, he died in prison before we ever had to worry about that.

“All right, all right,” Coach said, entering the crowded room. “Nice to have you back, Grady.” His eyes shot around at my teammates. “Now let’s get back to business. You all sucked on Saturday. You better turn it around this week because Texas is tough.”

I sat down on the stool in front of my locker and drew a deep breath as Coach reamed us out for the next fifteen minutes. But truth be told. I was so damn happy to be reamed out. To be back in the locker room I’d called home for four seasons. To be surrounded by the guys. To have my shot at proving myself worthy of the pros again.

Coach ran our asses into the ground at practice. An hour in, I was ready to collapse. I dropped down onto the sideline bench and squirted a stream of cold water down my throat.

“Nice to have you back.”

I lowered the bottle and met Flip’s eyes. “Is it?”

He looked down at his cleats. “Listen. We need to talk.”

“Then talk.”

“Not here. After practice.”

My eyes narrowed. What the hell was going on? He wouldn’t even look at me. “All right,” I agreed, more out of curiosity than anything else.

“I’ll meet you out front after practice.” He turned away from me and jogged back out onto the field. He said nothing else to me. Even when he called plays in the huddle, he didn’t once look at me.

After practice ended, I stayed in the shower a lot longer than usual. My muscles needed relief and the hot water cascading over me was a welcome pain reliever. When I stepped into the locker room after, it was deserted, except for Coach in his office. I dressed and grabbed my bag. Before heading out, I glanced around at the locker room one last time, so damn happy I’d been allowed back. I guess I really didn’t know what I had until it was being torn away from me. Now I knew, and I’d fight tooth and nail to hold onto it.

“Grady.” Flip leaned against the brick wall as I stepped outside the building.

“Talk,” I said, not bothering to stop as I made my way across the parking lot toward my truck.

“I want to apologize.”

I balked. “Yeah? Why’s that?”

“Because I came in here an overconfident dick and you saw right through me.”

I clicked the button on my keys to unlock the door. “I’m not buying it.” I turned to face him, but his eyes were again on everything but me. “What aren’t you saying?”

He dropped his head back and closed his eyes. “I let that guy into Emery’s room.”

“Come again?”

“It was me. I knew her passcode. And I let him in.”

My bag slipped from my hand as rage coursed through my body. My limbs shook. All I saw was red. All I wanted to do was rip his fucking head off. I stepped toward him, ready to throw down.

He held up his hands. “Let me explain,” he begged, his voice reaching a high pitch.

“He said he was her stepdad and wanted to surprise her,” he said in one frantic breath, clearly seeing the anger radiating off of me.

My fists clenched at my sides. “Like hell he did.”

“But I didn’t know that. I knew she was pissed at me and I thought I could make it up to her by helping with her surprise.”

“How you feeling about that now, motherfucker?”

He backed up, his hands up once again, so feeble and scared. “Listen. I know you wanna kick the shit outta me. But this is killing me. My part in what went down. I deserve it. I deserve whatever I have coming.”

I stopped, trying like hell to rein in my anger. I knew I didn’t need any more trouble, but I was so fucking pissed I needed to hurt him.

“He’s behind bars now,” he continued, pleading his case. “And she’s okay.”

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